FROM pupils to pensioners and bobbies to boffins, people in the North East got a rare chance to grill the Government.

Gordon Brown brought his entire Cabinet to the region for a meeting at the newly-refurbished Durham Johnston school, just outside the centre of the historic city.

But before the behind-closed-doors discussion, a special public engagement event was held, giving people from all walks of life the chance to raise issues close to their hearts.

Members of the public representing a cross-section of North Easterners were chosen to attend.

The event kicked off with a speech from the Prime Minister himself, who said: “We have had Cabinet meetings for 200 years but this is the first time we have met in Durham and the first time we have met in a school.

“I want to thank the headteacher for the wonderful reception and hospitality we have received.”

After the PM signed off, North East minister Nick Brown quipped that this was the moment many of his colleagues would have been dreading, as each table of guests was allocated a cabinet member.

They were given 45 minutes to quiz them about anything they wanted.

The time flew by but all was not lost for those who didn’t get to ask what they wanted, with written questions submitted to Newcastle East and Wallsend MP Mr Brown, who picked a selection and returned to centre stage.

One-by-one, they were read out with the chief whip then nominating who had the responsibility of answering them.

First up was a student from Durham Johnston, who asked what was being done to provide job opportunities for graduates.

Then came a representative from the Youth Parliament, who wondered whether youngsters themselves could be given more of a say in their education.

School minister Ed Balls told the audience the “best schools” were those that gave pupils a voice, telling an anecdote of a recent visit to a school where students had helped choose the new headteacher.

Next up was a member of the Old Persons’ Forum in North Tyneside, who asked about steps to safeguard entitlements for over-70s.

Health secretary Andy Burnham said there was now more-or-less cross-party support for the idea of a national system to ensure care for the elderly was not a postcode lottery.

Another question came from a serving policeman, who asked about frontline policing. Home Secretary Alan Johnson was given the microphone – when Nick Brown eventually located him in the room – and joked: “I thought there’d been a re-shuffle for a moment there.”

He went on to pledge that there would be no cuts to the number of frontline officers in police forces across the country.

As the event drew to a close the cabinet headed out for their meeting. The audience seemed full of smiles and filed out having been given a snapshot of the daily life of senior politicians.

But only the ballot boxes will ultimately tell how big an impact the Cabinet roadshow had on their voting.